Following school bus-pooling app, Schoolber in 2016, and RYDE service, RydeSchool in 2017, Grab today (20 April) announced its expansion of its GrabShuttle service, GrabShuttle for Schools, for the parents with school-going children.

It is described as a “premium, crowd-sourced service” so parents, and even school staff, can have “more personalised and flexible transport options” to help their children and themselves get to their destination quickly.

Customise Your Child’s Journey

The GrabShuttle for Schools service allows parents and staff choose their pick-up and drop-off points and when there are enough students and staff going to a similar direction, the platform will then start a route.

School bus rides can take a while, sometimes up to an hour, so GrabShuttle for Schools lets parents choose from a variety of buses, coaches, and taxis for a shorter travelling time.

They offer 23- and 13-seater GrabShuttle vehicles, as well as 4-seater taxis, which will only pick-up and drop-off at three or four places.

This service is open to all primary, secondary, tertiary students and staff in Singapore.

Riders who use this service can enjoy up to 50% shorter journey times compared to regular school bus services and public transport.

Those who opted for the taxi service have the flexibility to choose their pick-up and drop-off points for different days at no extra charge, like if students are heading to the tuition centre or their grandparents’ place.

Parents who are worried about the safety of their children, the app lets you track the vehicle they are in, in real-time, and they can directly contact the driver when needed.

Something of an additional security layer, route privacy ensures that only parents or guardians of verified students can see and track the route.

Grab assures that drivers of this service will go through rounds of screening and receive training in handling younger children, and all vehicles have seat belts and are covered under commercial insurance.

Using Tech To Make Life Convenient

Image Credit: Grab Singapore

The GrabShuttle for Schools aims to relieve the rigid and fixed to-and-from route that traditional school bus services offer by allowing parents to customise the routes.

Also, typically, school buses do not allow additional pick-up or drop-off points, or if they do, parents have to pay extra for those stops. These bus services also charge parents for the school holidays, up to 90 days a year, even when the kids don’t have school.

Having to wake up in the really wee hours of the morning just to prepare and wait for these buses are also one of the problems parents face

So with the addition of GrabShuttle for Schools, Grab believes this frees up more time for more parent-children bonding before school and work.

According to Grab, it uses “tech to find the best matches” by “aggregating pick-up and drop-off points across multiple schools”.

“Since we launched GrabShuttle over a year ago, we have had parents and teachers requesting for routes to and from schools, as well as a more personalised service that better meet their needs,” said Alvin Wee, Head of GrabShuttle Singapore.

“By listening to consumer demand and leveraging data analytics to design the most efficient routes, children can get more sleep each day, while allowing parents to save time in their daily morning routine,” he added.

Image Credit: Grab Singapore

The GrabShuttle for Schools service starts from S$130 a month for one-way trips and follows a 9-month payment schedule, and can be paid in-app using credit cards. Riders have to commit to a minimum of two months of rides.

Use the promo code ‘ShuttleSchool’ to get 20% discount off the first month, valid till 31 August.